Think about those moments when your mind races late at night—a bill that’s overdue, a looming work deadline, a strained relationship that feels fractured, or just that quiet dread about something big coming up soon. When we hold onto these everyday worries, trying desperately to control every outcome ourselves, it's as if we're silently telling God, "I've got this."
Yet, in today's passage (and echoed in 1 Peter 5:7), God invites us to do the opposite: to cast our burdens on Him. To "cast your burden" means to fully entrust it to God, releasing it from your own grip. It's a profound act of letting go, acknowledging that He is infinitely more powerful than any challenge we face.
God doesn't just ask us to cast our burdens on Him; He promises to sustain us when we do. As George Campbell Morgan wrote, "the experience of suffering was not taken away from the servant of God, but he was sustained, and so made strong enough to resist its pressure… This is how God ever sustains us in the bearing of burdens.” This incredible promise is also found in Philippians 4:6-7, where Paul reminds us that when we bring our requests to God, His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds.
What a powerful encouragement that God will give us the strength and peace we need to walk through these situations when we choose to lean on Him.

#YouVerion #BibleStudy #DailyDevotional ~Nearness

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.”
2 Timothy 2:3-5 KJV

Psalm 91:2 "I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

💯Jeremiah 32:17 ~ ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.

💯Jeremiah 32:27 ~ “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

Good Morning ..

Today's prayer ..

Dear God ... please give me strength to get through each day ...
When I feel tired or weak .. remind me that you are with me ... Help me trust you and lean on your help ... Give me courage to deal with whatever happens ...
Thank you for being by my
side ...

W.H.G.

Acts 7 - Questions


Q: Who spoke up asking, "Are these things so"?

Q: How did Stephen address them as he spoke?

Q: Who does Stephen recount as appearing to Abraham?

Q: Speaking of the history of God's people, whose seed does Stephen remind them of, that God had promised to give a possession to?

Q: Where did God say that this seed would sojourn?

Q: How many years were they to sojourn there?

Q: Who does God say that He will punish?

Q; What covenant does Stephen mention God giving to Abraham which was passed down, from Isaac to Jacob and then his sons?

Q: Who was the father of the twelve patriarchs?

Q: Who does Stephen recount as being sold to Egypt, who God was with, giving him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharoah while making him Governor over Egypt and all of his house?

Q: Who was his father?

Q: Who does Stephen mention as being called to Egypt by his son, along with all of his kindred, later dying in Egypt and then being buried in the Sepulcher that Abraham bought?

Q: Who does Stephen recount as God placing in the house of Pharoah to be raised, then at forty years old, visiting his brethren, the children of Israel?

Q: Who did he murder in defense of his brethren?

Q: Did he think his brethren would understand that God was using him to rescue them? Yes or No.

Q: Was he right or wrong in his thinking?

Q: Approaching his brethren, were they receiving of him? Yes or No.

Q: What did his brethren say to him?

Q: What land did he flee to where he begat two sons?

Q: How long had he been there when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush?

Q: When he wondered at the sight, drawing near, the voice of the Lord came unto him saying what?

Q: What was his reaction to this?

Q: As Stephen recounted these things to the men, what does he remind them of that God had said to Moses which Moses then shared with the children of Israel?

Q: As Stephen recounts history, who does he point out that their fathers, by refusing what Moses had told them, disobeyed and turned away from?

Q: Stephen calls them stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, resisting the Holy Ghost as who?

Q: Stephen points out that as their father persecuted and slayed the prophets who showed the coming of the Just One, and now they are betrayers and murderers of who?

Q: Stephen tells them that they received the law by the disposition of who but have not kept it?

Q: How did they react when they heard these things?

Q: Being full of the Holy Ghost, what did Stephen look up and see?

Q: As this happened, what did Stephen say to them?

Q: What was their reaction to this?

Q: What did they do with Stephen?

Q: Who was the young man the witnesses laid Stephen's clothing down at the feet of?

Q: As they did this to Stephen, what did Stephen say?

Q: When Stephen kneeled down, what did he cry out with a loud voice?

Q: What happened to Stephen when he said this?

Acts 7


1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.

9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.

13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Acts 7 (Continued)


31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built him an house.

48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

50 Hath not my hand made all these things?

51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.